Either out of confusion or discomfort we sometimes express our feelings in an unclear way. One key to making your feelings clear is to realize that you most often can shorten them in a few words: hurt, glad, confused, excited, angry, and so on. In the same way, with a little thought you can probably describe very briefly any reasons you have for feeling a certain way.

       In addition to avoiding too long expressions, a second way to prevent confusion is to avoid downplaying your feelings by saying“I’m a little unhappy”or“I’m pretty excited”.Of course, not all feelings are strong ones. We do feel degrees of sadness and joy, for example, but some communicators have a tendency to downplay almost every feeling. Do you?

       A third danger to avoid is expressing feelings in an indirect or coded manner. This happened most often when the sender is uncomfortable about showing his or her feeling in question. Some codes are verbal ones, as when the sender hints more or less subtly at the message. For example, an indirect way to say“I’m feeling lonely”might be“I guess there isn’t much happening this weekend, so if you’re not busy, why don’t you drop by?”such a message is so indirect that the chances that you real feeling will be recognized are small. For this reason, people who send coded messages stand less of a chance of having their feeling understood and their need met.

       Finally, you can express yourself clearly by making sure that both you and your partner understand that your feeling is centered in a specific（特定）set of environments rather than being indicative of the whole relationship. Instead of saying“I hate you”,say“I hate you when you don’t keep your promises”. Rather than“I’m bored with you”, say“I’m bored when you talk about your money.”

1．According to the first sentence, we sometimes express our feelings in an unclear way because

              .

       A．we are not clear what it is                    

       B．we have just get rid of a discomfort

       C．we are in a very bad feeling                 

       D．we do not want to tell anyone about it

2．We downplay our feeling if       .

       A．we don’t like it and try to hold it from anyone

       B．we control our anger without letting it out

       C．we use weak words to express a strong feeling

       D．we are confused an feel uncomfortable about it

3．The writer points out that if we express our feelings in a coded manner       .

       A．we will make them harder to be understood                          

       B．we will feel all the more confused

       C．we will feel uncomfortable                   

       D．we will make the listener uncomfortable

4．If you use very general words to express your feelings       .

       A．you tend to be downplaying them         

       B．you tend to be strengthening them

       C．you will make yourself well understood 

       D．your listener will not understand you well

5．According to the writer,“I’m bored with you”is an expression       .

       A．that strengthens our feelings                 B．that downplays our feelings

       C．that will make our listener confused       D．that is made in a coded manner

I still remember my first day at school in London and I was half-excited and half-frightened. On my way to school I wondered what sort of questions the other boys would ask me and practiced all the answers: “I am nine years old. I was born here but I haven’t lived here since I was two. I was living in Farley. It’s about thirty miles away. I came back to London two months ago.” I also wondered if it was the custom for boys to fight strangers like me, but I was tall for my age. I hoped they would decide not to risk it.
No one took any notice of me before school. I stood in the center of the playground, expecting someone to say “hello”, but no one spoke to me. When a teacher called my name and told me where my classroom was, one or two boys looked at me but that was all.
My teacher was called Mr. Jones. There were 42 boys in the class, so I didn’t stand out there, either, until the first lesson of the afternoon. Mr. Jones was very fond of Charles Dickens and he had decided to read aloud to us from David Copperfield, but first he asked several boys if they knew Dickens’ birthplace, but no one guessed right. A boy called Brian, the biggest in the class, said: “Timbuktu”, and Mr. Jones went red in the face. Then he asked me. I said: “Portsmouth”, and everyone stared at me because Mr. Jones said I was right. This didn’t make me very popular, of course.
“He thinks he’s clever,” I heard Brian say.
After that, we went out to the playground to play football. I was in Brian’s team, and he obviously had Dickens in mind because he told me to go in goal. No one ever wanted to be the goalkeeper.
“He’s big enough and useless enough.” Brian said when someone asked him why he had chosen me.
I suppose Mr. Jones, who served as the judge, remembered Dickens, too, because when the game was nearly over, Brian pushed one of the players on the other team, and he gave them a penalty (惩罚). As the boy kicked the ball to my right, I threw myself down instinctively (本能地) and saved it. All my team crowded round me. My bare knees were injured and bleeding. Brian took out a handkerchief and offered it to me.
“Do you want to join my gang (帮派)?” he said.
At the end of the day, I was no longer a stranger.
【小题1】The writer prepared to answer all of the following questions EXCEPT “          ”.

A．How old are you?

B．Where are you from?

C．Do you want to join my gang?

D．When did you come back to London?

【小题2】We can learn from the passage that           .

A．boys were usually unfriendly to new students

B．the writer was not greeted as he expected

C．Brian praised the writer for his cleverness

D．the writer was glad to be a goalkeeper

【小题3】The underlined part “I didn’t stand out” in paragraph 3 means that the writer was not       .

A．noticeable

B．welcome

C．important

D．foolish

【小题4】The writer was offered a handkerchief because          .

A．he threw himself down and saved the goal

B．he pushed a player on the other team

C．he was beginning to be accepted

D．he was no longer a newcomer

That cold January night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco. There I was, walking home at one in the morning after a tiring practice at the theater. With opening night only a week away, I was still learning my lines. I was having trouble dealing with my part-time job at the bank and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously about giving up both acting and San Francisco. City life had become too much for me.
As I walked down empty streets under tall buildings, I felt very small and cold. I began running, both to keep warm and to keep away any possible robbers(抢劫犯). Very few people were still out except a few sad-looking homeless people under blankets.
About a block from my apartment, I heard a sound behind me. I turned quickly, half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty. All I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me nervous, so I started to run faster. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I realize what the noise had been. It had been my wallet falling to the sidewalk.
Suddenly I wasn’t cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to where I’d heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk anxiously for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be found.
Just as I was about to give up the search, I heard the garbage truck(垃圾车) pull up to the sidewalk next to me. When a voice called from the inside, “Alisa Camacho?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened, and out jumped a small red-haired man with an amused look in his eyes. “Is this what you’re looking for?” he asked, holding up a small square shape.
It was nearly 3 a.m. by the time I got into bed. I wouldn’t get much sleep that night, but I had got my wallet back. I also had got back some enjoyment of city life. I realized that the city couldn’t be a bad place as long as people were willing to help each other.
【小题1】How did the writer feel when she was walking home after work?

A．Cold and sick	B．Lucky and hopeful
C．Satisfied and cheerful	D．Disappointed and helpless

【小题2】From the first paragraph, we learn that the writer was busy_____.
A .solving her problem at the bank         B. taking part in various city activities
C learning acting in an evening school   D. preparing for the first night show
【小题3】On her way home the writer_____

A．lost her wallet unknowingly

B．was stopped by a garbage truck driver

C．was robbed of her wallet by a man with a knife

D．found some homeless people following her

【小题4】From the text, we can infer that the writer_____

A．would stop working at night	B．would stay on in San Francisco
C．would make friends with cleaners.	D．would give up her job at the bank

Why should I teach my children history? That sounds like a stupid question to even ask. But, as I hear different home schooling teachers discuss history, I get the idea that there may be different reasons for teaching history. Let me briefly explain the three good reasons for studying history and two bad reasons for studying history.
The major reason I see for studying history is that we can learn from the past. I am convinced that the world would be a much better place if more people understood the successes and failures of the past and the things that made these successes and failures. However, as the unfortunately true statement goes "the one thing we seem to learn from history is that we don't seem to learn from history." Perhaps at least in teaching history to my children I can do a small part in changing this.
A second major reason for studying history is that it is hard to understand the current political climate in the absence of an understanding of its historical context. We cannot even understand why we are and where we are without history, much less (更不必说) try to figure out where we are going or how we should get where we want to be.
I teach my children history, for one more reason. I purchased a set of historical audio (录音机) tapes for our children. My seven-year-old son listened to them over and over. It was my hope that he would become inspired by the accomplishments of people like the Wright brothers to accomplish things by himself. I think that it is good that we celebrate the accomplishments of people like Martin Luther King Jr. if, in doing so, young people are called on to stand for the principles that he stood for and accomplish what he accomplished. I also think that by studying people like Adolph Hitler, people can learn to stand against the things that he stood for.
【小题1】
What message can we get from the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2?

A．Many people aren't clever enough to learn well from the past.

B．Many people fail to make good use of history and make the same mistakes.

C．Many people feel it hard to understand history.

D．Many people have no interest in studying history.

【小题2】
In Paragraph 3, the author shows that history is useful because ___________.

A．it makes the current political situation go smoothly

B．it helps us realize the importance of historical events

C．it helps us understand why things are the way they are

D．it helps people accept the present situation where they live

【小题3】
What would be talked about in the following paragraph?

A．How to teach history effectively.

B．Some negative reasons for studying history.

C．How to get more people to study history.

D．Some bad historical figures.

【小题4】
The main purpose of this passage is to ____________.

A．inspire the parents to teach their children history

B．show the importance of history in politics

C．explain the reasons why children study history

D．introduce the writer’s own way of teaching history